Katie Sexton bags groceries at Lucky's Market in Boulder on Tuesday. The local grocer on Tuesday announced plans to open a second store in Longmont early next year.
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JESSICA CUNEO
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Years in the making, Boulder-based Lucky's Market soon will have a sister store.

Lucky's Market, which operates a grocery store, café and bakery off Quince Avenue and Broadway in north Boulder, plans to open a grocery store in Longmont in the summer of 2013, officials announced Tuesday.

The new Lucky's will anchor the Parkway Promenade Shopping Center, a multimillion-dollar refurbishment of the 120,000-square-foot Parkway Center at 700 Ken Pratt Blvd.

The 26,000-square-foot store -- double the size of the original Lucky's in Boulder -- also is expected to have a full-service liquor store.

"Those ancillary things (such as a café and bakery) that we've built around our market will come inside there," said Bo Sharon, who has owned and operated Lucky's for nearly 10 years. "Everything will be a little bit bigger."

Sharon said he has entertained the idea of a second location for a few years and came fairly close to realizing those dreams. Three years ago, Sharon entered into negotiations to buy the former Wild Oats Markets store on Baseline Road when it was put on the sales block as a result of Whole Foods Market's settlement with the Federal Trade Commission.

That sale was not completed and the market, at 2584 Baseline Road, landed in Whole Foods' hands.

Lucky's success in recent years allowed Sharon and crew to shore up cash to reinvest in the business through opening the café, the newly added creamery and bakehouse and, finally, the second store, he said.

"It's unbelievably exciting," he said. "It's taken us a good amount of time and effort to get to where we are in a comfortable state to feel we can sustain and succeed with another store.

"It's perfect timing."

The Lucky's in Longmont will employ about 80 people, he said.

"Everybody inside of Lucky's Boulder is part of the team, so the ability to leverage some of the experience that we've gained will definitely be played out in Longmont," Sharon said. "It obviously generates a bit of opportunity for our guys that we've never been able to do before."

The arrival of Lucky's signals further growth in the natural and organic grocery options in Longmont. Natural Grocers By Vitamin Cottage operates a store on 1745 N. Main St. and Sprouts Farmers Market plans to open a location at 1101 S. Hover, in a space formerly occupied by the now-defunct Borders.

Sprouts has targeted a Jan. 2 opening for is Longmont location.

Steve Hoffman, industry observer and president of Boulder-based Compass Natural Marketing, noted that sales of natural and organic products continue to have a double-digit annual growth rate and the products are garnering a greater demand throughout Boulder County.

"Boulder itself has so much competition for food retail and yet it continues to be a thriving market," he said. "I think you're seeing that expand throughout the county, with Alfalfa's going into Lafayette and you're seeing Longmont now come into its own in terms of demand for healthier food."

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